Sopore gunbattle ends, holed-up militant killed

The fierce gunbattle that started on Thursday afternoon in Sopore ended on Sunday morning when security forces killed the second militant...

The fierce gunbattle that started on Thursday afternoon in Sopore ended on Sunday morning when security forces killed the second militant holed-up in a multi-storey hotel. A militant and a Central Reserve Police Force trooper had been killed earlier in the gunbattle that raged for more than 70 hours.

“We have killed both the militants,” Additional Superintendent of Police, Sopore, Mir Imtiyaz told The Indian Express. “ He said the slain militants were fidayeens of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) and identified them as Abu Osama and Abu Talha of Pakistan.

One of the major encounters between security forces and militants ever taken place in the Valley, the Sopore gunbattle started on Thursday afternoon when the CRPF repulsed an attack on the State Bank of India (SBI) building in the town. The militants then rushed towards the nearby New Light Hotel. And as the J-K Police, CRPF and Army cordoned the hotel, it marked the beginning of a 70-hour long encounter. The police evacuated more than 100 people from hotel and its adjacent buildings before launching an offensive to flush out the militants.

In fact, there has been sudden surge in encounters between militants and security forces since the imposition of Emergency in Pakistan.

Bashaarat Masood

Bashaarat Masood is a Special Correspondent with The Indian Express. He has been covering Jammu and Kashmir, especially the conflict-ridden Kashmir valley, for two decades. Bashaarat joined The Indian Express after completing his Masters in Mass Communication and Journalism from the University in Kashmir. He has been writing on politics, conflict and development. Bashaarat was awarded with the Ramnath Goenka Excellence in Journalism Awards in 2012 for his stories on the Pathribal fake encounter. ... Read More